912
“To all guests in my palace due notice shall there be
That I will ride forth early: those who would hunt with me
Must hold themselves all ready; those who would rather stay
To loiter with the ladies have my good leave alway.”
913
Then spake the stalwart Siegfried, with noble courtliness:
“If you will ride a-hunting, Til gladly do no less.
A huntsman you must lend me, and sundry hounds also,
Then gladly to the forest along with you I’ll go.”
914
“And dost thou want one only?” the king said thereupon,
“I’ll lend thee, if it please thee, four men to whom are known
The forest and the coverts the quarry most frequent;
So that the tryst in seeking thy time be not misspent.”
915
Home to his wife then rode he, the goodly warrior bold,
And quickly faithless Hagen unto the king had told
How he could get the vantage of the brave thane: ’twere shame
Such treason foul should ever disgrace a noble name.
Adventure XVI
How Siegfried Was Slain
916
King Gunther now and Hagen, those knights exceeding bold,
Had treacherously plotted a woodland hunt to hold.
With lances sharp pursuing the boar in forest free,
The wild bull and the bear too: what bolder sport could be?
917
With them rode Siegfried also, in honourable mind.
They carried food, too, with them, and that in diverse kind.
Hard by a cool spring was he foredoom’d to lose his life.
And this was by the counsel of Brunhild, Gunther’s wife.
918
First went the bold thane thither where he Kriemhilda found,
Already on pack-horses his hunting-gear was bound,
And that of his companions: to cross the Rhine they meant,
Kriemhilda ne’er before had such reason to lament.
919
And then his own belovéd he on the mouth did kiss:
“God grant that I may find thee, my wife, safe, after this;
And that thine eyes may see me! With good friends, till I come
Beguile the time of waiting, I may not bide at home.”
920
Now thought she of the secret she had to Hagen told:—
She did not dare to own it— nor longer could withhold
The noble queen lamenting that she had e’er been born!
For thus with grief unmeasured did Siegfried’s fair wife mourn.
921
She spake unto the warrior: “Ah, let your hunting be!
Last night I had an ill dream: two wild boars I did see
That chased you o’er the moorland: the flowers grew red as blood.
If I do weep thus sorely, ’tis that I bode no good.
922
“I have a sore misgiving that there may be some plot:
Whether some grudge be owed us for service rendered not,
Which may be bringing on us dire hate and enmity?
Go not, dear lord, I beg thee in truth and honesty.”
923
“My love, in but a few days again I shall be here.
Nor know I of these people one who ill-will doth bear;
To me at all times friendly are all thy kith and kin:
Nor by these warriors elsewise entreated have I been.”
924
“Nay, nay, my dear lord Siegfried, I bode thy fate too well:
Last night my evil dreaming told how upon thee fell
Two mountains in the valley; I saw thee never more.
If thou wilt thus forsake me, ’twill wound me to the core.”
925
His wife so good and loving he in his arms did press,
And cherish’d her fair body with kisses numberless;
Then took his last leave of her, and tore himself away;
Alas, no more she saw him alive after that day!
926
Now rode they forth and came to a deep and shady wood,
For sake of sport, and many a warrior bold and good
Did follow after Gunther and with his sportsmen roam.
But Giselher and Gernot, they two remained at home.
927
And many horses, laden with stores of bread and wine
Provided for the huntsmen, went forward o’er the Rhine;
Both fish and flesh they carry, and many another cate
Such as a king so wealthy might duly have to eat.
928
They ordered their encampment, these hunters proud, hard by
The greenwood’s skirts, where mostly the quarry’s runs did lie
Which they to hunt were minded; ’twas on an eyot broad,
And thither too came Siegfried: as straight the king had word.
929
The hunters then appointed the watchers where to take
Their places at the openings. Then he, the bold man, spake,
Siegfried the ever-stalwart, “Who leads us through the wood,
To show us where the game is, ye valiant thanes and good?”
930
“Suppose we part,” quoth Hagen, “or ever we begin
To beat about the forest to see what is therein.
That I and these my masters may reason have to know
Who are the better sportsmen that on this chase do go.
931
“The beaters and the hounds too, we’ll evenly divide:
Thus each his choice may follow where’er he please to ride.
Then he who is best sportsman shall have our thanks therefore.”
So spake he, and the hunters together stay’d no more.
932
Then said the noble Siegfried: “The hounds I value not,
Save but a single setter, who such a scent hath got
That he the track will follow where’er the game hath led;
Here’s to a merry hunting!” Kriemhilda’s husband said.
933
Thereon an aged huntsman took with him a sleuth-hound,
And brought the noble hunters to where much game they found
Without too long a-seeking. The comrades then did hunt
Whatever broke from covert, as sportsmen keen are wont.
934
Whate’er the setter mark’d him, that slew with his own hand
Siegfried the doughty hero, who came from Netherland.
His steed so swiftly bore him, that naught could him outrun;
Praise above all the others upon this chase he won.
935
In all he put his hand to alert he was enow;
Of all the beasts, the first one that he to death did do
An ox was, strong and savage, that with his hand he fell’d;
And then he, on a sudden, a lion grim beheld.
936
E’en as the hound aroused it he with his bow let fly,
On which a sharpen’d arrow he’d fitted hastily.
After the shot the lion but three bounds further ran;
Whereon his hunting comrades to thank Siegfried began.
937
There after he an elk slew, and then a buffalo,
And then four sturdy bisons, a savage stag also.
His steed so swiftly bore him that naught could get away:
Of harts and hinds scarce any there were he fail’d to slay.
938
A huge wild boar the sleuth-hound had routed from his lair,
And when to flee he turn’d him right in his path was there
The hero of the hunting, all ready for the fight;
The savage brute did straightway charge at the valiant knight.
939
This boar Kriemhilda’s husband then with his broadsword slew:
The like no other huntsman so easily could do.
And when he thus had felled him, they put in leash the hound:
His goodly spoils were talk’d of all Burgundy around.
940
Then spake to him his huntsmen: “If ’tis for us to say,
Leave us, we pray, Lord Siegfried, a few live
